Roll-about folding bed



Jan.2s,193o. l SML/11R 1,745,193

ROLL-ABOUT FOLDING BED Filed June 20.*1928 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 28, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NEIL SINCLAIR, 0F OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO IEtIIJ VAN WINKLE WALL BED COMPANY, INC., 0F OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION 0F CALIFORNIA ROLL-ABOUT FOLDING :BED

Application filed June 20,

This invention relates to folding beds of the type which are not attached to a door or wall of a building, but are free to roll about the room, and particularly to such a type of bed as shown in my prior Patent No. 1,607,925 wherein the bed is equipped with a pair of auxiliary legs or supporting arms which au-l tomatically swing forwardly in a horizontal plane towards the foot of the bed as the same is lowered from upright or folded position so as to increase the base support on the floor so the bed will not topple over upon the person pulling it down.

The objects of the invention are to provide improvements in the construction of such a bed whereby the auxiliary legs will swing out quicker to supporting position, also means whereby less interference to the action of the legs will be had from rugs or inequalities on the floor where the bed is let down. Also such a bed with a pair of automatically actuated auxiliary legs as described, but which will operate independently in case one is prevented from operating from any means whatever. Other objects are greater com pactness, as well as simplified and more dependable action in a bed of this type as will appear from the drawings and description to follow.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the bed frame as folded to upstanding position and with lowered position indicated in dotted lines. The customary wire mattress or coil springs for supporting the mattress, as well as the usual counter-weighting springs have been omitted so as to keep the drawings simple and more clearly show the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan sectional view of Fig. 1 as seen from the line 22 thereof.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of Fig. l as seen from the line 3-3 thereof showing the special limit link pivotally at* tached to the bed frame and swinging auxiliary leg.

\ Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the leg operating device showing the outwardly urging spiral spring therein as Well as the slotted pull-back links.

In further detail the structure comprises a 1928. Serial No. 286,723.

horizontally disposed base frame 1 preferably formed of channel iron and to which is permanently secured a vertically disposed head frame 2 preferably formed of square or round steel tubing as in the common construction of metal beds.

The base frame is supported on four swivel type castors 3 so that it may freely be rolled about, and a main bed frame 4 provided with trunnions 5 is pivotally supported in yokelike brackets 6 secured to and extending upwardly from the base frame l in a manner so that it may be lowered from the vertical position shown in full lines to the' dotted position indicated in dotted lines.

At the upper end of the main frame; or rather the foot of the bed; is a swingingly attached combined foot frame 7 and legs 8 of well known construction which is man ually swung to vertical position when the bed is lowered, and the bed is normally, through counterweighting or heavy springs, (not shown) urged to the vertical, but overbalanced when in lowered position by its own weight all in the well known manner so that it requires very little effort to lift it to the vertical position, or to hold it from falling when lowering it.

At the two forward corners of the base frame l are upstanding brackets 9 to which are pivoted at 10 auxiliary legs 11 each carrying at their free ends a caster 12. The pivot bolts lO are a little olf of the vertical so that the legs in swinging from an extended or bracing position dotted in Fig. l to the inwardly folded position of Fig. 2 will also be lifted from in contact with the floor about an inch, so that these auxiliary legs in swinging outwardly to bracing position will not be impeded by a heavy rug or other article which may be upon the floor but will descend at a slight angle upon such obstruction.

These legs are preferably made of pressed steel channel form and are curved or offset inwardly from the point X to be closer to the frame in the central portion of the bed when folded (see Fig. 2) to provide a very valuable feature for rounding a closet door jamb and thus enable the bed to be turned parallel with the wall in a closet of much less depth than otherwise possible with auxiliary legs of the length shown.

To actuate auxiliary legs of this type in lowering the bed it has been customary to provide a positive hook-up so that both legs were forced outward or retracted in lowering and raising the main frame 4, one type of which is shown in my prior patent above mentioned. However in such a construction two faults are found; first, the outward swinging of the legs is too slow as it is not fully completed until the bed is practically lowered and therefore the bracing effect of spreading the base support is not sufficient to avoid danger of pulling the whole structure over on the operator especially if either or both of the rollers of the auxiliary legs should strike a heavy rug, for in such an eventuality the whole bed structure (through the great resistance of the powerful counterweighting springs) fulcrums on the auxiliary rollers at any point of their interference instead of the main pivots 5.

In the present structure I overcome the ob- 'ections noted by resiliently and independenty forcing the auxiliary legs outward so that if either one meets an obstruction the other will still advance to support the bed. Also by this means I get practically instantaneous complete movement of the legs as soon as the bed frame is pulled downward to a slight an le.

o achieve the above I provide for each auxiliary leg an operating device (see Fig. 4) in the nature of a tubular telescopic arm the sections 13-13' of which are resiliently spread apart by a compression spiral spring 14 reacting against opposite ends. This arm is pivotally connected to a transverse member 15 at a point above the axis 5 and to the leg 11 by means of universal joints 16, 17 to care for the o posite arcs of travel of the bed frame ancl) swinging leg, and since the sprin 14 is always under compression a pullback link is plovided to hold the leg closed or in inwardly folded position when the bed 1s up.

This pull-back link takes the form of two fiat sections 18, 18 slottedly engaging one another at their inner ends and anchored to one of the universal joint pins at their outer ends, both sections being loosely positioned within the hollow core of the spiral spring 14 all as shown in Fig. 4. Thus when the bed is lifted the telescopic tubes open to the limit permitted bv the pull-back links and these pull-back links automatically pull their respective legs back to a folded position and as the bed is lowered they collapse with the sliding together of the cylinder sections while an increased pressure is built up in the springs to force the legs outwardly. When the legs are being pushed outward by the compressed springs 14 as well as when pushed fully to position shown in Fig. 3, the tubular sections are partially teleseoped.

However, to prevent the spring devices from forcing the auxiliary legs too far outward I provide limit links 19 slidably pivoted in a slot at 2O on a gusset plate 21 of the base frame l, and at the forward ends to one of the pivots of universal joints 17 extended for that purpose.

These limit links 19 are each preferably of sheet metal bent into triangular form with the base of the triangle taking the forward pivot at two places so as to angularly brace the swinging leg from top and bottom.

In operation, when the bed is lowered the legs quickly and resiliently move out, independently of one another. If a rug is in the way of one it will lag behind until the spring pressure mounts up to force it over, though as explained since the legs are falling downward as well as moving outward they will clear the edges of most any rug, atleast until they' are almost fully open and at which time they have contributed sutlicient forward base support to prevent the bed from toppling bodily.

The springs 14 are more tightly compressed when the bed is down as the telescopic arms are somewhat shortened, and they contribute part of the force for Counterweighting the hed so that it is more easily lifted.

The inward curving of the legspermits the use Aof much longer legs yet gives superior closet clearance as explained.

The outwardly exposed channel of the base frame running around the whole frame is unique and provides for easily and more firmly securing a felt bumper strip therein to prevent marring the doorway and furniture as the bed is rolled about.

I claim:

1. In a roll-about type of folding bed, a base frame provided with a plurality of supporting casters, a main bed frame, means by which the main bed frame is pivotally mounted on the base frame to swing from a horizontal to a vertical position, an auxiliary leg for bracing the bed while lowering, means whereby said leg is pivotally connected to the base frame to swing from an inwardly folded position extending transversely of the bed to a position extended towards the foot of the bed, and a compression spring reacting between the main bed frame and said leg operated by the main bed frame upon swinging the same for resiliently urging said leg outward.

2. In a roll-about type of folding bed, a base frame provided with a plurality of supporting casters, a main bed frame, means by which the main bed frame is pivotally mounted on the base frame to swing from a horizotnal to a vertical position, an auxiliary leg for bracing the bed while lowering, means whereby said leg is pivotally connected to the base frame to swing from an inwardly folded position extending transversely of the bed to a position extended towards the foot of the bed, and a compression spring reacting between the main bed frame and said leg operated by the main bed frame upon swinging the saine for resiliently urging said leg outward, and a positive pull-back for said ieg.

3. In a roll-about type of folding bed, a base frame provided with a plurality of supporting casters, a main bed frame, means by which the main bed frame is pivotally mounted on the base frame to swing from a horizontal to a vertical position, an auxiliary leg for bracing the bed while lowering, means whereby said leg is pivotally connected to the base frame to swing from an inwardly folded position extended transversely of the bed to a position extended towards the foot of the bed, and a compression spring reacting between the main bed frame and said leg operated by the main bed frame upon swinging the same for resiliently urging said leg out- Ward, a device positively limiting the outswing of said leg and a positive pull-back for said leg.

4. In a structure as specified in claim l, a telescopic tube surrounding said compression spring.

5. In a structure as speciiied in claim 1, and pull-back links'for said leg arranged within a hollow in the spring.

6. In a structure as specified in claim l, and pull-back links arranged within a hollow in the spring, and a pair of telescopic tube sections enclosing said spring and said links.

7. In a structure as specified in claim 1 said last mentioned means comprising a compression spring arranged to react between said leg and said bed frame, pull-back links arranged within a hollow in the spring and a pair of telescopic tube sections enclosing said spring and said links, universal-joints at i opposite ends of the telescope connected respectively to the bed frame and leg, and said links connected at opposite ends to said universal joints.

NEIL SINCLAIR. 

